"So you're with Eli again?" Demetri asked, making Sky startle.

They were in his room, sitting on the bed. Sky had always loved Demetri's room - all the Marvel posters on the walls, the bookshelves filled with comic books, fantasy novels, and action figures, the large bed where there was enough room for both of them to just hang out. Demetri's room was cozy and nerdy, it felt safe and fun and it was filled with memories of good times.

On the bed where they both sat cross-legged, Demetri had laid out all the books and notes of the school subjects they shared. Sky was taking pictures of his notes to write the texts into her own notebooks later. She didn't want to fall behind too much, and her mind had been busy with all the things she needed to do to keep up, so Demetri's comment managed to surprise her.

"How did you guess?" She asked, the flushing of her cheeks betraying her emotion.

"I'm not stupid, you know. He came to see you at the hospital bringing all those gifts and flowers, and now your neck is..." Demetri's voice trailed off.

"Crap," Sky said, trying to cover the said neck and the trail of hickies on it with her hair. "I didn't want you to find out like this—"

"You didn't want me to find out. Period." Demetri stated sounding a bit bitter. "Because you knew what I'd say."

"Well then, now you know," Sky couldn't hide the annoyed note in her tone. "Spit it out."

A small silence followed. Sky picked up another notebook from the pile - biology this time - and flipped it open. She frowned at Demetri's horrible handwriting - it would take ages to decipher these hieroglyphs.

"It's just that..." Demetri hesitated. "How can you just forget everything he did? I mean, the trashing of Miyagi-Do and stealing the medal, the way he attacked me at the mall, the school fight? Not to mention how he lied to you—"

"You don't have to tell me, you know. I was there." Sky's words came out a bit sharp. She didn't like to be reminded of those things. She didn't like to think about them.

"Then—" Demetri swallowed. "I don't understand. How can you act like it doesn't matter anymore?"

Sky shrugged. She looked down and kept taking pictures of the notes, turning a page, picking up her phone to take the picture, then putting down the phone and turning another page. It was slow work with one hand, but she didn't mind. It kept her busy so she didn't have to meet Demetri's eyes, his no doubt judgemental glare.

"I almost died. Twice." She finally replied. "Are you seriously going to lecture me about wanting to live?"

"No, but—"

"I was miserable without him. And I don't wanna be like that again. He makes me happy."

"Okay," Demetri said slowly, sounding like he wasn't okay with this at all. "Just saying that he also made you miserable last time."

"I know."

"And you're not scared he's gonna do something like that again? You seriously think it's a good idea to take the risk that he will hurt you again?"

His words made her feel all hollow inside, the memory of the day when she had found the Medal of Honor under the Millenium Falcon T-shirt, was suddenly on her again. The row of small, white pills on her desk, their slightly bitter taste on her tongue. The door of death that had been wide open, the voices calling for her, calling her name so loud that everything else had gone silent.

Sky looked up from Demetri's notebooks, took a couple of shaky breaths to calm herself, and put down her phone.

"To love is to give another person the power to hurt you," She said softly. "And I love him. It might not be smart, but I can't help it."

Demetri's frown deepened. He looked down, his long fingers trailed circles on the dark blue bedspread. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again. The last time was bad enough."

Sky let out a sigh. She understood where he came from, she really did. She too remembered the endless days when she'd lain in her bed, too sick and exhausted and depressed to do anything. All those neverending afternoons when she had wanted nothing but death, and Demetri had sat by her bed, reading her Dungeon Lord comics, watching Marvel movies and Doctor Who with her, talking, talking, talking to her, his endless chatter the lifeline that had pulled Sky away from the dark dry well that had been suffocating her.

She knew it wasn't fair to expect Demetri to go through all that again. Hell, she didn't want to go through that herself again either.

It's not gonna be like that this time. It's not. I know Hawk loves me and he would never hurt me again.

"You need to stop worrying," Sky replied, turning her eyes up to meet Demetri's concerned stare, forcing a smile on her lips. "I'm fine. I'm not in that place anymore, and I'm not gonna do anything stupid."

"I might argue that getting back together with Eli is stupid," Demetri muttered and Sky's smile faltered.

"It's not like I have to justify myself to you anyways. I can date who the fuck I want," she snapped. "Let's talk about something else - so, what is the science project you were talking about?"

Demetri's face lightened, his frown disappeared.

"It's for biology. You can join my group if you want to. We'll be doing an exact representation of the Valley at the end of the Jurassic period. I've got this great plan—"

Before Demetri could get started on his plan, Sky interrupted him. "Who's in the group already?"

Demetri's cheeks reddened. "Just me... and Yasmine."

"Yasmine?" Sky's eyes widened. "For real? How did that happen?"

"Pure luck. Mrs. Darrel formed the groups," he muttered, running his fingers through his hair. "But I asked her to keep a spot for you."

"Okay," Sky said, frowning. "You know I'll be on sick leave at least for a week more, right?"

"Oh, I know. It doesn't matter, the project isn't due for another three weeks. And you can help me after school. We're going to go to buy the materials tomorrow. We'll be building it out of Lego Bricks, it's going to be incredibly complex - hey, maybe you want to go with us?"

"Us?" Sky arched a brow. "You're seriously going shopping with the Queen bitch?"

"Yasmine has the money, I have the brains. I'd say we make a pretty good team."

"Oh Lord," Sky rolled her eyes. "And what use do you have for me?"

"You have nimble fingers."

"I have a cast!"

"In your left arm." Demetri wasn't easily discouraged. "No, but seriously Sky, I need your help. I cannot do this alone with Yasmine. You have to be there! She's so—"

"Mean?" Sky suggested. "Cold? A cruel bitch who used to make our lives a living Hell?"

"Hot!" Demetri corrected. "She is incredibly hot and I am intimidated by her hotness! Besides, I don't even care that she's mean. I would gladly give an arm to get her to even look at me - and now the universe has granted a miracle and she's in my group! Please Sky, you have to help me."

"I would, I really would—" Sky muttered. "I know I owe you. But D, Yasmine probably hates my guts. I kicked her in the school last year, remember? After she insulted me, called Eli a freak, and poured an iced latte all over me. We haven't even talked since."

Demetri made a face. He leaned his elbows to his knees and rested his chin on his hand as he let out a sigh.

"I remember. But—"

"There is no but! She hates me. And I'm not her biggest fan either."

"But—" Demetri went on, hardly discouraged. "—after Aisha gave her that front wedgie, Yasmine hasn't been the same. Her popularity isn't what it used to be. A new school year, a new start, right? Maybe the two of you can make up?"

"Right," Sky rolled her eyes. "How would you like it if I asked you to make up with Hawk?"

That managed to shut even Demetri up, and Sky picked up her phone again, to continue taking pictures of his notes, even if her mind really wasn't in it anymore.

Everything she had said to Demetri was true, and yet—

She couldn't stop thinking about the time after her suicide attempt, when Demetri had been there for her every day, never complaining, never asking for anything in return. And now he was asking this one thing from her. This one small thing, that clearly meant the world to him. Was it really too much?

"Fine," she said when closing the biology notebook that lay on the bed between them. She looked up to meet Demetri's dark eyes. "I'll do it. I'll help you with that science project and with Yasmine, the best I can."

"Thank you," Demetri's face lit up. "So, tomorrow then? We'll meet at the mall after school—"

"Yes, fine, tomorrow—" Sky replied, Demetri's barely contained excitement making her smile too.

She didn't even remember she had promised to meet Hawk.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

👀

🤗